Baltimore Orioles: A Review of 2013 Hopes and Fears
Fears for the 2013 Orioles (written on 1/3/13) …
– That Buck Showalter will platoon Nolan Reimold and Nate McLouth, and neither will produce well in that scenario. My fear was that platooning would guarantee dual mediocrity. Reimold never really got it started before being out for the year. McLouth had a great first half of the season, but really tailed off terribly in the 2nd half, especially against lefties.
– That Dan Duquette will trade Chris Tillman. There was a lot of talk a year ago about using Tillman as trade bait, and I wrote, “In my view, unless there is quite a return, this would be a disaster. The guy worked hard, figured out what he needed to do to be a consistently dominant pitcher, and he is a piece that now needs and deserves to stay. After all, this is what we wanted to see from the entire crew of young, up-and-comers; we just did not expect that Tillman would be the one to figure it out first.” We can certainly be thankful that Tillman was kept.
– That Jason Hammel will not really recover from the knee injury. Having twice had the same surgery, I wrote about his recovery that “my head says yes, my knee says no.” He was clearly not the same guy. My knee was correct.
– That Brian Roberts will get the 2nd base job, but that we will not recognize him. This is a sorta half/half realization. Roberts did come back to the amazement of many skeptics, but he was neither a disaster nor a great asset.
– That Manny Machado will have the sophomore slump fall upon him. This fear looks totally silly now! But I did write this: “I honestly do not expect this, as he did not look the least bit overwhelmed or uncomfortable out there … that his skills are simply beyond soph slumping. But, many others have fallen unexpectedly to this common phenomenon.”
– That J.J. Hardy will not again hit like he did in 2011. Hardy did indeed look more like the guy of 2011 than the guy of 2012.
– That none of the young gun starters ever really figure it out. I was talking about Jake Arrieta, Zach Britton, and Brian Matusz. Of the latter I wrote, “Matusz looked like an entirely new person in a relief role … could he embrace this?” A year later and the other two are still floundering, and Arrieta is gone. And even Matusz does not look like a probable starting candidate anymore.
– That the unusual clubhouse atmosphere of 2012 cannot be replicated. We already commented that it was repeated – one of the great assets of Showalter leasdership.
– That anything less than 93 wins and the playoffs will be a return to the 15-year wilderness. I wrote that “Orioles fans are like a long-term abused wife once the beatings have ceased. It is going to take a long time to trust again.” Yep, the step backwards has the fans more outraged than they were a year ago. On both occasions there was/is much angst over the perceived inactivity of Dan Duquette to improve the club.
So, in summary about the fears: four were realized, four were not a problem, and one was a mixed bag.
The 2012 season was pretty special and very unique – with the one-run wins and the unusual bullpen success. Coming out of 2011, most fans would have been pleased with what would have been construed at the time as very optimistic if the Orioles could win 80 games in 2012 (they won 93) and 85 in 2013 (which they did). So, in a sense, even though the Orioles did more poorly this past season than the year before, we could say that they are on a realistic schedule. But this probably means that the Birds need to win more than 90 this year for there to be a sense of continuance.
(Come back in a few days for “hopes” and “fears” for 2014 … but right now go “like” us on Facebook and re-post this on your wall, and follow us on Twitter @BaltimoreWireFS)